When we started this project, we were given the 6 Grand Challenges (as shown below), and wanted to tackle the first on. We came up with the idea of a buoy which holds sensors that could be deployed en masse in coral regions to gather data for scientists to study climate change.
After considering the difficulty for us to deploy our prototype in the field, and us being unsure on its actual impact, we decided to pivot the idea and apply it in an aquaculture setting.
We choose aquaculture as Singapore, with its SG GREEN PLAN 2030, is trying to be more independent in its food sources and as aquaculture is a very sustainable way of farming, the Singaporean government has been trying to push aquaculture these past few years and investing in a lot of local aquaculture companies.
We are also looking into the expansion of sustainable fish farming in the deeper Southern Waters of Singapore and transforming the coastal fish farms in the Straits of Johor to boost local fish production.
https://www.ourfoodfuture.gov.sg/30by30
Dr Ho directed us to Prof. John who introduced us to Prof. Matthew who is the CEO of Assentsoft Aqua Asia, a Danish aquaculture company, with a branch in Singapore.
We set up a meeting with Prof. Matthew where we pitched our idea and inquired on the feasibility of having our idea be useful for the industry. He then proceeded with describing the current system in the industry :
Currently, the tanks in the field have sensors deployed in them. There is an employee dedicated to monitoring the water chemistry level every certain interval, and when a threshold is met, he would alert another employee who is on site to adjust the water chemistry by manually adding certain solutes.
Prof. Matthew then suggested that we build an alert system through SMS for when certain thresholds are crossed. He believed that by having this system, the company will be able to eliminate one of the man-powered roles, leading to more accurate, swift and precise adjustments.
Upon further consideration and expansion on his idea, we noticed that there is more that we can achieve – the potential for a complete, negative feedback loop system that will allow the whole process to be completely automated.
and so it begins